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It’s a third-rail issue many people don’t want to touch.
Talking about a player’s weight.
Mekhi Becton missed most of last season with a knee injury suffered in the opener. There were hopes he could come back during the season, but the knee didn’t heal sufficiently, so we never saw him again.
Is it possible being such a huge man slowed the healing process a little. That is quite bit of weight coming down on a surgical knee.
When asked about Becton’s seemingly slow rehab, Robert Saleh made references to him being a big man. He never said weight, but just the fact that somebody that large is going to take a little longer to come back from a leg injury. But Saleh never goes down the “he needs to drop some weight” road.
Neither does Joe Douglas, who just said after the season the player needs to get into great shape this off-season.
Saleh and Douglas don’t go down the weight road. And it’s smart to avoid that topic because the media would go nuts with it if either man said, “He needs to lose weight.”
I want to make it clear, I’m don’t like to judge people’s weight. That is a private matter. However, in this space, we are evaluating football players, so anything written here is strictly related to player performance, and sometimes when you carry too much weight, it can impact player performance.
It’s been well-documented that Becton struggled last summer facing edge-rusher Carl Lawson in training camp, and during the 2020 season, while Becton was outstanding as a run-blocker, his pass protection was up-and-down, including giving up two sacks to the Raiders Clelin Ferrell, who hasn’t been a good pass-rusher on the NFL level.
Becton is very athletic for his size, but perhaps could be even more athletic if he slimmed down a little. Brock Huard said he was 380 at the end of the 2020 season. So if he played at 355, he would still be massive and powerful, but more mobile, and this could help with speed rushers a little.
In his latest mock draft, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has the Jets picking North Carolina State offensive tackle Ickey Ekwonu at four. He was asked why they would do that with they have Becton, and he claimed they could move Ekwonu to guard. As for Becton he said . . .
“Now, with Becton, look, I’m not privy to all the information in terms of where he’s at with his head space or where he’s at — I know there’s been a bunch of stuff written and said about his weight. I don’t have that information,” Jeremiah said.
You know, there is a good chance he is privy to that information since he’s good friends with Joe Douglas. They worked together as scouts with the Baltimore Ravens, and Douglas was reportedly interested in adding Jeremiah to the Jets front office, but he decided to stay in broadcasting.
It’s hard to believe when Jeremiah and Douglas talk on the phone, the subject of Becton’s weight never came up.
But there is no way Jeremiah is going to say publicly that Becton needs to lose weight. Just like if Saleh and Douglas won’t. You have to dance around the edges and send cryptic messages.
Because weight is such a personal matter and it’s somewhat rude to criticize weight publicly.
And I want to make it clear I’m not judging Becton the human being regarding weight. This is strictly football analysis.
February 28, 2022
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